


The Silence of Entropy

by Natearu



Series: The Silence of Entropy [1]
Category: The Silence of Entropy
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Gen, Mystery, Post-War, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Natearu/pseuds/Natearu
Summary: Two brothers Alan and Jake Herima set out on a post-war adventure to find the whereabouts of their persistently absent parents and what purpose they serve to in the new world they find themselves in. And who knows, maybe they'll meet some new friends or at least some interesting faces along the way, don't ask me. I don't like spoiling shit.
Series: The Silence of Entropy [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1792042





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first "major" work I've ever created, so any forms of constructive criticism and/or feedback is greatly appreciated. Even a comment of a smiley face would be welcome. I want to see if this actually interests people as much as I am driven to make more of it.
> 
> Please comment if I should add anything to these beginning noes or the chapter itself if there are insufficient trigger/content warnings, or anything of the like. I want everybody to enjoy this to the fullest or avoid it if the content is unfitting for them, thank you :)

The smooth autumn breeze gives off a calming disposition as it passes through the rural trees nearby. Rustling and falling of leaves are complemented by a quaint, lonesome house that stands on its own in the middle of, supposedly, nowhere. It’s a run-of-the-mill wooden house with walls painted white, each corner being a dark green, and a blackish-gray roof to top it off. The scene is serene, but the atmosphere is absolutely claustrophobic for all. There’s not a soul in sight: great news for the two boys locked away in their bunker out back. It’s built to not look out of place, but still hidden enough to protect those in need of refuge. But don’t let the sight of the house exterior trick you: there’s plenty of room for provisions and necessities to outlast a war: trust me, THEY should know 

“Hey Jake, can you hand me my pistol ammo?”

“I dunno, Alan,  _ can I? _ ”

“For the love of God, Jake, now’s not the time for this. Just toss me my ammunition,  _ please. _ ”

“Alright, alright. Here ya go, broski.”

Jake tosses the pistol ammo as instructed, but Alan fumbles a bit in the process.

“Oh for the love of-” Alan cuts himself off in restraint. “Could you just drop the go-lucky ‘bro dude’ talk for just a few minutes? We’re about to finally make our move, and considering the circumstances, this is some serious shit we’re getting ourselves into. So if you’d just  _ try  _ to take this a bit more seriously, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Sorry, but it’s not my fault you nearly dropped the bullets. And lighten up a little, it’s not like we’re going to  _ war _ or anything, right?”

“Oh, har dee har har, you’re fucking hilarious. Just hurry up and get ready to head out. We’ve been waiting a solid month to make absolutely sure everything has completely settled, and the sooner we get going, the better. Mom and dad didn’t mention if this was time-sensitive, but I’d rather not take any chances with this, got it?”

“Yep, I hear you loud and clear, captain Alan. Already got my bat, some food, and some water all set.”

“That’s it? You do know that there’s a big chance we’re not coming back here, right? I know 18 is still pretty young, but come on Jake, use your head a little!”

“Ok, sorry Mr. I-can-drink-legally-even-though-law-doesn’t- matter-anymore. Just give me whatever you don’t wanna lug around or something since I honestly don’t know what I’m doing here.”

Alan sighs, but not out of frustration this time. “Alright, let me help you get situated, then.” 

He continues as he begins sorting out their things, “You know Jake, you really should learn to start making decisions on your own, you know. We don’t know what’s gonna be out there for sure, and there’s a possibility that I won’t be there to help you out.”

Jake’s tone slightly shifts to a more somber one, “Yeah, I know that. But I’ve never really thought things through, I just kinda do things and see what happens. Hasn’t really done me a whole lotta favors in the past, but it’s the only way I know how to do things, really.”

“Jake, listen to me.” Alan does the 2-fingered ‘eyes on me’ motion to Jake, “You’re a capable guy. You can do things I can’t. As lanky as you are, you can still do a surprising amount of physical feats that not many of your average Joes can do. Just have a bit of confidence in yourself, you hear me?”

Jake seems to visibly light up a little. “I guess you’re right, dude. You haven’t been wrong about a lot of things before, so I’ll trust you on this one. So uhhh… What were we doing again?”

Alan recoils a bit as if he got snapped back into reality, “Oh right, we’re heading out soon!” He frantically finishes up packing everything both of them need for the road ahead.

Both of the boys take one last look at the bunker they called home for several months, and take one last heavy sigh before heading out into the outside world. They each take one step out, and exchange looks at each other.

“You ready to finally go see mom and dad?” asked Jake.

“I’m more than ready.” replied Alan. “Let’s go.”

Jake immediately stops Alan before he finishes stepping forward, “Wait a second!”

“Come on Jake, what is it!? We just had a picturesque moment together, and you ruined our momentum we had going!”

Jake gives Alan a look and points at an oblivious squirrel in the distance.

“Oh. Gotcha.”

Alan takes aim with his pistol, and fires a quick, fatal shot to the creature with ease.

Jake runs over and grabs the corpse by the tail, holding it up high like a fisherman showing off a recent catch.

“WE’RE EATING GOOD TONIGHT, ALAN!”

Alan smirks, rolls his eyes, and continues forward.

Jake follows suit as they both start towards the empty dirt road, now fully prepared for what’s to come. They know nothing of the whereabouts of their parents, but there’s at least one thing for certain: they want to find answers, no matter the cost.

**_> To be continued..._ **


	2. Calling the Shots - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Alan and Jake leave their old home, they set out for the first leg of their journey and find themselves in some woods with only a lingering feeling of uncertainty accompanying them. That is, until something comes in to put a spring in their step. But not before a visitor from their past gives one of the boys a rude awakening.

“North. Head north when it’s time.”

“But why? Why can’t you just tell us what’s going to happen? You two are our parents for Christ’s sake, can’t you just be a bit less cryptic in a time like this?”

“Alan, please. You need to trust your mother and I. We know you well enough to know you like having answers as soon as you can, but you boys just aren’t ready yet.”

“Not ready!? I’m legally considered an adult, and Jake is coming close to being one at the very least! I know we still lack a lot of life experience unlike you guys, but are you sure there’s nothing more to say than just this half-assed ‘good luck in the future’ type of send-off!?”

“Don’t yell at your father like this Alan, there’s no point in starting unnecessary discourse before we leave. I know this pains you, but you just have to trust us. And as cheesy as this may sound, we only want what’s best for you two. It’s true you two are growing into fine young men, but there’s still things you don’t understand.”

“So what now? I’m just supposed to accept that ‘there’s a time and place for everything’ and move on like some oblivious kid watching a shitty sitcom with a shoe-horned message!? I know I don’t understand everything, but just clue us in on  _ something,  _ mom! Please!!”

“Alan, that’s quite enough. If not for your mother, please settle down for Jake. Just look at him.”

He subtly points to Jake who is standing behind Alan, trembling with his head down so nobody can look at his face.

“Jake…”

Alan’s father places both hands on his shoulders and gives him an intent, but caring look.

“Look Alan. You’re his older brother. Whether you like it or not, you have always been a role model for him. So if you only do one thing while we’re gone, promise me this: please, look after Jake.”

Alan nods in understanding.

“Alright then. We’ll be seeing you boys.”

Both parents give their children farewell embraces, everybody sobbing and tearing up with varying magnitudes, then they finally step out the door with no delay.

“No! Mom! Dad! WAIT! PLEASE!”

“please…”

“no…”

“No, please… stop…”

“COME BACK!”

Alan jerks his upper body up from the ground, appearing to be in a cold sweat, gasping for air as if he nearly escaped from drowning in a lake.

“Mmmmph… what’s going on? Did somethin happen while I was sleepin?” said Jake drowsily as he wipes his eyes to wake himself up a bit.

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing really.” replied Alan, fumbling as he quickly puts on his glasses as if he was caught doing something wrong. “Just had a bad dream is all.”

“That it, huh? Got me worried that we got jumped or somethin while we were defenseless.”

“If you thought we were getting jumped, then why didn’t you get up a bit quicker?”

“I dunno Al, I’m really not much of a morning person, hehe.”

“Normally I would chew you out for not taking this seriously, but I’m really not in the mood right now, to be honest with you.”

“Fine by me, if you ask me.”

“You know that last part was unnecessary to add, right?”

“Good to see you’re not  _ too  _ tired, broseph~”

“Whatever, let’s just get moving since we’re up now.”

The boys pack up their lightweight tent as well as the rest of their belongings, as well as cleaning up some scraps from the dinner they had the night prior.

“Jake, why did I even shoot that squirrel yesterday before we left? We have plenty of food to eat before resorting to hunting and stuff of the like.”

“I have no clue, but it was funny as hell, that’s for sure.”

“I suppose it kind of was, wasn’t it? (But it was just so unnecessary. I just chewed him out for not taking this seriously, and then proceed to waste precious ammo like that for the sake of a fucking joke? Dad said to look after him as if I were his guardian, but what kind of good influence am I?)”

The two brothers resume their trek to God-knows-where, but Jake notices something off with Alan as they continue onwards.

“Hey bro, you feelin’ alright? You’re not looking around like you usually do.”

“Oh!” Alan quickly lifts his head back up and frantically looks to his left and right repeatedly, “I’m just peachy, thanks for asking! Must’ve been dozing off because of my rough dream, good job making sure I keep us on track!”

“Um, yeah… Sure, I guess.”

Alan gives Jake a worried look, just for a moment before he looks back and stares forward once more. The air around them feels thick, but different than the normal claustrophobic atmosphere the air around them typically has. The awkward silence plagues them both for what feels like, I don’t know, maybe half an hour or so? None of them bothered to bring a watch with them, so who knows, really. It just felt like a while. It almost feels like a game of who will speak first, and both parties have something to say, but neither want to say the first word. Wow, they’re really not talking, huh. Guess we’ll just have t-

**_BANG_** **_FWIP_**

“HOLY SHIT!!”

“JAKE, GET DOWN!!”

Alan swiftly pulls Jake behind one of the many trees surrounding them, and he follows suit as the tree is actually big enough for the both of them to take cover. The two boys then try to catch their breath from the noise breaking the silence like a rock being thrown at a glass window.

“*huff, huff* Fuck, that was close. The son of a bitch was an inch from your face judging from the mark I saw on the tree before we ducked. Can’t believe we actually have to deal with a sniper of all things right now. The hell do they want!?”

“I dunno Al, but all I know is that whoever they are, they picked a fight with the wrong guys! We can take ‘em, no problem.”

“What do you mean, ‘no problem’? We may know the direction they’re in, but that guy should have about half a mile max on us. It’s not gonna be easy to close the range, you know. My pistol is useless in this range, so we have to close the gap. That’s our only chance right now.”

“Come on dude, even I know that. I know it’s hard to believe, but when I said ‘no problem’, I meant that I have a plan.”

“Oh, really? Lemme hear it.”

“Sweet. So you see all the trees around us, right? There’s not enough for his options to be limited, but it’s also enough to help us maneuver around a bit.”

“Oh God, Jake. Don’t tell me this is heading where I think it is.”

“Come on, you worry too much. At least lemme finish. Alright? Cool. So, I’ll take my bat (obviously), and make a mad dash for each tree that’s closest to me to eventually close off the distance between us and the sniper guy! Sounds great, right?”

“Jake. That’s borderline suicide, are you fucking crazy?”

“No it’s not! I know I’m kind of a twig, but I’m agile and nimble enough to do this! And besides, you said yourself yesterday that I’m ‘a capable person’ or something like that!”

“Yes, I know what I said, but don’t you think they’d catch on? They need to keep their distance, so they’d just constantly move away from us again!”

“Alan, you serious? That doesn’t make any sense. You of all people should know that it takes a while for snipers to line up a shot and keep it as accurate as possible. There’s no way in hell they’d just move around all willy nilly, that’d be a perfect time for us to close the gap even more! If I can realize that before you, then something’s definitely wrong here.”

“You listen here, Jacob. I don’t need to hear this from you right now, you’re getting way over your head right now. Let me fucking take care of this.”

“Hey, hey, what are you talkin’ about? Just because I’m not the brightest sometimes, doesn’t mean it won’t work. Just trust just this once, could yo-”

“No. you stay here where it’s safe. I’ll get close to them, and incapacitate them with my pistol so we can ask questions. There’s less of a gap this way, so our chances of getting unscathed are better. Now stay put, please.”

“Alan, now  _ you’re  _ sounding like the suicidal one here! There’s no way a stout dude like yourself can pull that off! Just let me take care of it, I can-”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP, JAKE!! I GOT THIS, SO STAY HERE!!”

Jake opens his mouth to try and retaliate, but nothing comes out. He instead sighs, and looks down in defeat, with just a hint of resentment. 

A determined Alan adjusts his glasses, prepares his pistol with a full magazine, and takes a few mental notes before moving onward:

“(So, if I remember correctly, the bullet that hit the tree was at an upward angle meaning that the target is on the ground. It’d be kinda weird for a sniper to try and balance on tree branches or something, but you never know, I suppose. Just have to get within a handful of yards to get a surefire hit, and we’re home free. That’s all.)”

However, he starts to feel a tad shaky thinking about not making it to the next tree, or the one after that and beyond, but after one anxious gulp, Alan makes his first move and leaps to the nearest tree.

**_BANG_ **

**_> To be continued..._ **


	3. Calling the Shots - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alan engages this newly-found, unknown and distant enemy while leaving his brother Jake behind for safety purposes. What's his deal? Is it hubris? Lack of trust? Or something else entirely? Will Alan make it out alive? Find out in this new chapter of Drago- I mean The Silence of Entropy. Yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW // Slight gore mention

**_BANG_ **

Alan narrowly dodges the first bullet aimed at him as he covers behind another tree according to plan. It’s only the first tree of many, but he already shows signs of fatigue from his slightly stressed breathing, to small hints of shakiness. Either subconsciously or intentionally however, he ignores it and presses on with that familiar sharp look of determination in his eyes. He cuts the bullshit and mental preparation to leap once more. Another shot is fired.

**_BANG_ **

Another narrow escape. Another leap. Another shot.

**_BANG_ **

This goes on for a few more trees, and the tree Jake is covering behind becomes more visibly distant. However, Alan’s fatigue is becoming more apparent. Breaks between leaps are becoming longer in time from being short of breath, and his limbs grow shaky enough for him to take notice. Whether it’s from shot nerves, or physical tiredness, he can’t tell: they feel the same to him anyways. But despite the circumstances, his mission of protecting Jake pushes him to leap once more.

And again.

And again.

Alan is closing in at around the first quarter of the original distance of his target before his physical state shows how bad it’s become.

**_BANG SHWIP_ **

The shot grazes the top of his right bicep, and leaves a nasty, bloody gash behind its trail. 

“MOTHER FUCKER!!” 

Alan cries bloody murder as he writhes in pain and covers behind the next tree.

“God dammit, that bastard finally nicked me. Lucky me, I was smart enough to bring a bit of coverings in case something like this happened. Holy HELL this hurts like a bitch!”

Alan quickly, but carefully covers the wound in proper bandaging to stop the bleeding, all the while having little hisses escaping between his teeth akin to someone spraying neosporin on a fresh cut. He takes a short breather to prepare himself for the next leap.

With the distance getting shorter from the two, the danger for Alan only becomes greater as the time the bullet takes to reach the target gets shorter. Alan, being one who likes thinking ahead, thought of this and decided to be more deceptive with his following leaps. 

From throwing his bag as a fake-out maneuver, to moving one direction to immediately switch to another, these strategies surprisingly worked well enough to take him well over the halfway point as childish as the strategy was. Thoughts of the enemy’s age and mental capabilities ran through Alan’s mind being the analyst that he is. While he didn’t get lost in thought, he did forget about his physical capabilities and fatigue levels, and as fate would have it-

*thud*

“FUCK ME, NOT TODAY!!”

**_BANG SHWICK_ **

He slipped in a standard leap attempt to trick the enemy, and the shot went straight through his right thigh. He was lucky enough to not have it hit bone, but not lucky enough to prevent crippling him even further.

Knowing the time it takes to actually shoot in between shots like the back of his hand, he scurries on the ground to the nearest tree with his only good side left. He barely has enough bandages to cover the wound, but now his movement is even more limited than before. But he’s about 75% done. He needs to keep going, even if it means acts of sacrifice. His previous sharp, determined demeanor shows its true colors in pure, bonafied stubbornness. He can’t just back off because of some meaningless injuries. 

“I made a fucking promise all that time ago, and I’m going to stick with it no matter what. YOU HEAR ME, YOU THORN IN MY SIDE!? YOUR COWARDICE WON’T LEAD TO VICTORY!! I’LL TAKE YOU DOWN NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO TO ME, UNDERSTOOD!?”

But Alan is still absolutely terrified. He’s already exhausted and sweaty, bloody and crippled, and the anxious shaking isn’t doing him any favors. Not to mention that he aims his gun with his right hand; the hand that’s supported by his wounded bicep. He can barely keep his left side still, there’s no way in hell he can keep his right steady enough to make a fatal shot, or a shot that can hit at all. 

“Just… a little… closer… a few more trees, that’s all.”

After slowly picking himself back up, he holds back a scream as he puts pressure on his right leg. He immediately puts most of his weight on his left as he prepares for another leap. There’s no more time to think, he just puts everything he has into it, and-

**_BANG CRACK_ **

Alan lands flat on his face, and basically just accepts his fate. Everything he’s done and has yet to do, all gone. His promise to his father, broken. Jake will probably be confused and heartbroken, the poor kid. It’s all over. It’s-

Wait a minute… he’s alive. Utter disbelief shoots through Alan’s body as he frantically puts his dirty (but still not broken somehow) glasses back on his face, and looks around. He sits back up and waves his uninjured limbs around out in the open like a cartoon character trying to make a Russian guard with those big, black fuzzy hats move. But nothing’s happening. There was a shot, but it wasn’t aimed at him? There was also a different noise that followed it, but it somehow sounded familiar? Not much later, he can hear light footsteps coming towards him in the same direction the sniper came from. Wait a minute, is that-

“Jake!?” 

“Yeah, what’s up Al? Damn, you don’t look so hot, bro. Let’s go back to get our stuff from that tree we hid behind so we can fix you up real quick.”

“Wait wait wait wait wait, slow down a minute. First of all, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?”

“Woah, keep it down, there’s no need to attract more potential enemies, dude. Just cool off for a sec so I can explain. Alright? Awesome. To answer your first question, I walked here.”

“Wow, thanks. Let me be more specific this time, why’d you leave when I told you to stay put?”

“Well, after your little explosion you had there, you basically told me straight up something wasn’t right with you. I know you get upset with me at times, but that was a bit heavier than normal for you. And like I said before, I honestly didn’t think you’d be able to do it considering your physical strengths. So I waited until you wouldn’t notice, and went ahead with my plan.”

“Ok, but what happened to the sniper? Did you really manage to take that guy out that easily? That was a lot of distance you covered in a short amount of time since I basically got a head start.”

“Come on Alan, we both know you’re not that quick on your feet, don’t play dumb. Don’t be stealin’ my schtick, hehe.”

Alan gives Jake an unamused look that tells him to just get on with it already.

“Alright, alright, I’m done. So you basically had him distracted for most of the time which made me moving a lot easier. I also went a bit wider so he wouldn’t catch me on the corner of his eye. And since I can pretty stealthy, I just walked up to the guy, caught him off guard, and whacked him on the head with good ol’ Casey.”

“And what about the shot that didn’t hit me? Did he get you? Are you ok??” asked Alan as he frantically checks Jake for any injuries.

“Woah, get down, you’re still really banged up, don’t worry about it. Like I said, he was caught off guard, so he had to make a blind shot, and just made a hole in my jacket. No blood, no foul.”

“Oh, alright then. Sorry, I just worry about you sometimes, you know.”

“Aw, that’s really nice to hear, dude, I-”

“Ok, that’s enough of that, let’s not dwell on that one thought for a bit.” Alan replied quickly, clearly forcing himself to change the subject as soon as possible. “But uh, what about the guy? You said you knocked him out, right?  _ Please  _ don’t tell me you killed the fucker. We need  _ answers,  _ Jake. Answers!”

“I didn’t kill em, don’t worry about that. I just made sure to at least knock him out for a while so we can start questioning him later. I checked his pulse to be safe just in case I hit em a bit too hard.”

“Well that’s good to hear at least. But now it’s going to be forever until we potentially get something out of him! We need to hurry with this journey or else we’ll- GAH!” Alan yelped as he tried to get on his feet.

“C’mon Al, take it easy for a bit. Just chilling out to recover for a day or so isn’t gonna hurt. It’ll only hurt more if you try to force it like me taking honors classes that one time. Let’s just take the body and our things and just lay low for tonight. And don’t even try getting up by yourself, I’ll lend you a shoulder when we start to get moving. Sound good?”

Alan is taken aback a bit by Jake’s words: almost as if he got slapped out of his own delusions. Maybe dad was wrong. Maybe Jake didn’t need his protection. Wait, did he even specifically say to protect Jake? Oh well, that doesn’t matter right now. Alan looks up to Jake with his new eyes and replies:

“Yeah, Jake. that sounds good to me.”

**_> To be continued..._ **


	4. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers take it easy and rest up after the long events that took place earlier in the day. They're both ready to go to sleep under the night sky up until a certain somebody opens his mouth with some choice words to say.

With the dust of the events that occurred earlier in the day finally settled, all that’s left is the two boys laying side by side looking up at the starry night accompanied by the tops of the cedar trees with their unconscious, tied-up, newly acquired hostage. It’s truly a beautiful sight to behold that would make people in their 50s who grew up camping with their siblings jealous. But the silence of this picturesque scene must be broken, or else this would be a pretty shitty chapter, to be blunt. 

“Hey, Alan.”

“Yeah?”

“Mind if I ask you a question?”

“Sure, hit me.”

“So what the heck was going on with you today? Not just with the outburst you had when we were trying to not get shot, but when you woke up. You said you had a dream, right? It must’ve been a nasty dream considering you woke screaming. And after that, you just didn’t act like yourself. It was like something possessed my brother, and he couldn’t free himself, or something. But you were still you, so that doesn’t really make sense, and… sorry, I’m no good at analogies.”

“Oh, uh… yeah, it was a pretty nasty dream to be honest with you. And to be completely honest with you? I… don’t think you were far off with that possession analogy (even if it was roughly executed).”

“Wow, you serious? Wait, were you actually…?”

“No Jake, don’t be ridiculous, everybody knows that ghosts and all that paranormal stuff is fake as hell. Uh, anyways, back to what I was saying, but… I guess to put it in perspective, it was actually more of a sudden recollection than an actual dream.”

“I’m not following, dude.”

“Ok, it was a memory. I had a fucking flashback. There, I said it. And it was us four… before they left.”

“Oh. It was that day, huh. That was definitely a thing that happened.”

“Yeah. And I guess that just messed me up mentally, and couldn’t get my mind straight for a while.”

“Alan, I know there’s stuff you’re leaving out. You can’t just leave it at that and expect me to accept it. You gave me a great pep talk yesterday, and then you suddenly took it all back just like that. What really happened? I’m worried about you.”

Alan takes a moment to collect himself before responding, “Well, it was something that dad said. It stuck to me then, and it especially sticks now. Before they left, he told me to look after you. I took what he said to heart, and I guess I overdid it a bit. Being direct here for a moment, that memory terrified me. I don’t exactly know why, but I guess that just led to paranoia and unneeded ‘protection’ on my part. Just because I was fucking scared, I basically crushed our trust when I went back on what I said.”

Jake turns his head towards his brother. He notices his eyes are shining from the stars’ reflection when they weren’t before. He’s clearly holding back hard.

“I didn’t need to do any of this. I didn’t need to yell at you, I didn’t need to act like a fucking hero from some shitty anime who wins with shitty one liners and empty threats. I didn’t need to go on a fucking suicide mission just to ‘prove myself’. What the hell did I even need to prove? Who was I proving it to? You? Myself? Dad? Who even fucking cares about pride and shit at a time like this. I… I…”

Alan slows down to a stop for a moment once he realizes that Jake is now lying right next to him. Alan finally starts to break as he turns over to give his brother a much needed embrace.

“I should’ve trusted you.”

Jake gently puts his left arm over Alan’s body as his right is trapped under the weight of his emotionally unstable brother. He stays that way for a bit to let Alan sob into his shoulder: he clearly needs it, and Jake understands. Once his emotional breakdown starts to settle down a bit, Jake finally responds.

“Alan, you’re doing just fine, I hope ya know that.”

Alan takes a moment to wipe off his tears and compose himself a bit before saying anything, “Are you kidding? After all that’s happened and after what I said, you’re saying I’m doing fine?”

“Well, yeah. You screwed up a bit, but you can’t change that. Your emotions got the best of ya is all. Happens to the best of us. You have to stop being so hard on yourself, it won’t help anything. There’s no need to put all these self-imposed challenges on yourself like you’re striving for perfection or somethin dumb like that. You’re flawed, I’m flawed, but we’re brothers. We have what the other doesn’t. That’s how we’ve always been since we were kids, so why change that now? Just remember that you don’t hafta do this alone, alright?”

Alan continues to fail at keeping his composure, “You know something Jake?”

“What’s that, Al?”

Alan smiles as he turns to Jake, “Sometimes I wonder who’s really the older brother here.”

“Aw, I’m flattered to hear that. But don’t try and think I’m above you or anything just cause I said a few words. I don’t wanna see you crash like this again.”

“Ok, fair enough. Will do… But now that we’re done talking about this emotional nonsense, mind if I ask  _ you  _ a question?”

“Yeah, sure broski.”

“Why the hell did you take the guy’s gun? There’s hardly any ammunition left, and neither of us know how to use a damn sniper to begin with.”

“Oh, I figured we should take it just in case.”

“Just in case? That thing’s taking up a ton of space, and you want to keep it for a ‘just in case’ scenario that probably won’t happen?”

“Exactly! Maybe I’ll be in a tight spot in the future where your pistol won’t be enough, so you’ll pull out the sniper, take aim, make the sickest shot of your life and save me! Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“Jake, you do know that my glasses will just get in the way of the scope, right?”

“But that’s what would make it so cool! An unlikely blind shot that could make or break my fate, but the great Alan Herima takes fate and makes it his bitch! Am I right, or am I right?”

Alan chuckles a bit. Putting on a serious act right now would just be too tiring. “Yeah, sure Jake. Whatever you say.”

The two brothers start to settle down and get ready to rest up for the day ahead. Alan may still be injured, but they will do what they can. Without a plan for the next day, the boys and their still unconscious hostage finally get some much needed rest. Not like one of them really had a choice in the matter, but you know what I mean.

**_> To be continued..._ **


	5. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Alan find that their formerly unconscious hostage has awoken, and they find out in the only fashion they know how: by being woken up by them. These boys just can't get a decent night's sleep, huh? Anyways, they soon find themselves having a "discussion" with their could-have-been-murderer, but like always, the answers (or anything, really) don't come easily.

Jake finds himself standing alone in a white void, completely disoriented with his senses unstable. There’s nothing to see, but his vision is fuzzy. There’s nothing to hear, yet his hearing is filled with static. He does not know what to feel, and struggles to find something to say. That’s until he mutters like a child woken up in the midst of the night by a bad dream:

“Mom…?”

There is no reply.

“Dad…?”

Still nothing.

“Alan…? Anybody at all?”

His voice is lost to the void. That’s how it seems until two blurred figures appear in the distance. They are close together, and seem to be a man and a woman. Their images are unclear, but Jake would know them from anywhere.

“M-mom!? Dad! Hey!” 

He waves both arms frantically as if beckoning a ship from a deserted island. 

“Hey! It’s me, Jake! We’ve been looking all over for you guys!”

There is no response from them. Instead, an ear-shattering noise reverberates through the void as both of their bodies drop.

“What the-! NO!! MOM!! DAD!! YOU CAN’T GO JUST YET!!”

He sprints straight for the two in the distance, but no progress is made. He still remains too far from them. He couldn’t do anything, nor can he do anything. He wasn’t in control at any point, yet he still feels like he’s to blame to an extent.

“NO!! COME BACK!! YOU NEVER GOT TO SEE ALAN!! MOM! DAD!... Please… come back…”

He slowly falls to his knees, defeated as his parents descend into the expanding red pools they made for themselves, never to be seen again. The void is gradually consumed with the same dark, red tint dispersed by these pools, and Jake begins to hear a voice. It’s muffled, but gradually gets louder and louder. He thinks he’s going mad.

“Mmmph! Mmph! Mmphucker!"

The voice slowly becomes less muffled, and more clear for Jake.

"Motherfucker! Hey! HEY!! GET THE FUCK UP!!”

Jake literally jumps out of the illusion and falls to the ground immediately. Sleeping bags aren’t good for dramatic awakenings from night terrors, to say the least. His tiny ass falls directly onto the dewy forest surface.

“Ouch, talk about a rude awakening, hehe.”, says Jake.

“That don’t mean what you think it does, dumbass.”

“Maybe it doesn’t, but waking me up like that was pretty rude I’mma be honest.” Jake says as he mutters, “but I honestly should thank you for saving me from that hell I was in.”

“Oh, so you’re dumb AND you think I’m deaf. How in the FUCK did I manage to let myself get messed up by YOU of all people, I swear to god.”

“Ok, can you stop with that? You’re gonna wake up my brother! He needs to get his beauty sleep or he gets cranky pretty fast. Like there was one time I got him up at like 6am on his birthday so he can celebrate it early, and he was SOOOOO mad, like he just -”

“CAN YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!? I DON’T CARE ABOUT YO DAMN BOOT-LICKIN ASS BROTHER OF YOURS!”

Al starts to move around a bit grumpily before he finally rises and stares down Jake.

“Jacob Herima, can you PLEASE keep it down for a few more fucking minutes? You KNOW how I get when I don’t sleep enough, and if you get me up one more time I’ll…" Alan slows down as he realizes that wasn't his brother's voice, "pull out… the… middle… name…” 

Alan’s gaze slowly moves over to the now fully conscious hostage mid-sentence, and he suddenly feels like he slept like a baby who cried about his emotions the night prior… Oh wait.

“Sup, mothafucka.” the hostage says with a smug look on their face.

“Oh god, we got one of THOSE, huh. Fucking hell, this is gonna be a fun day, isn’t it.” said Al, being completely apathetic towards the hostage.

“C’mon Al, you don’t hafta be rude, do ya?”

“Jake, did you forget that this is a time of WAR?”

The hostage interrupts and says “Post-war.”

Alan sighs deeply. His patience is already going thin, and it hasn’t even been 5 minutes since he woke.

“Ok, you got me. Anything else want to come out of that big mouth of yours?”

“Nah, not really. Unless you two dumbass blondes got more dumb shit to say.”

Alan takes a moment to really look at the hostage since it hasn’t really registered since he got up.

The hostage is a young black boy who looks to be about 15 or so. He’s a bit on the shorter side which makes him look younger than he already is, but actually has a bit of muscle on him. Not a lot, but a good amount for someone his age. His bald head also reveals the nasty mark Jake’s bat left on him from yesterday’s events. No wonder he got knocked out cold for so long, yeesh. 

“I see what you’re trying to do, you know.” said Alan, desperately trying to establish his authority, or lack thereof.

“Never said anything about hidin’ it, ya fuckin bootlicker.”

Alan immediately loses it with minimal restraint.

“Ok, what the HELL is that supposed to mean!?”

“C’mon Al, don’t get so worked up about this kid, it’s just what kids do sometimes.”

“Now what in the motherfuck is THAT supposed to mean??”, the hostage snapped at Jake, “You tryna say I don’t know shit just ‘cause I’m younger than y’all? You don’t know HALF the shit I’ve gotten into in my life, so don’t go actin’ like you know everythin’ just ‘cause you’re older. Shouldn’t surprise me that THIS dumbass don’t know that age is just a number.”

Jake has a hard time not looking defeated, but Alan is absolutely FUMING.

“Alright you little shit stain, what’s your deal, huh!? You’re being held captive, and you’re fucking mouthing off like this without a care in the world.”

Alan pulls out his pistol that he still has on his waist. Apparently he sleeps with it at all times.

“You see this? I could easily kill you right now if I wanted to, so how about you change that attitude of yours for us before we blast your brains out.”

There’s dead silence for a moment, and Alan holsters his gun and turns away to get on with their morning routine.

“But you won’t.” the hostage remarks.

Alan freezes with his back still turned.

“Don’t say shit you won’t do to me. ‘Empty threats do nothing but show cowardice’, that’s what Big Sis always told me. Y’all want answers from me. That’s why y’all let me live in the first place.”

“Wait a minute,” Alan turns to the hostage with a subtly curious look on his face, “‘Big Sis’? Who’s that?”

“Case in fuckin’ point. Answers, answers, answers, that’s all y’all EVER want. Bootlickers are all the same, y’all are too easy to read.”

Jake continues to stand motionless, looking down while trying to obscure his eyes as if nothing has changed since his parents left. The boy before him destroying his brother from the inside out reminds him as to why he woke up with a jump in the first place and can’t control himself from shaking. He’s silent, but Alan doesn’t fail to notice. He never fails to know when something’s up. Not anymore at least. Alan finally utters a response for the young hostage.

“Alright, you want a Q&A? Let’s have one. Enough with this big-talking bullshit and cut to the chase.”

“I mean, you was the one who wanted one to begin with, but alright, bet.”

Alan doesn’t even bother to make a similar snide remark back at him this time. He just silently takes a seat on the ground in front of the kid. However, it’s not nearly as graceful as he wanted it to be as he only just remembered his injuries from yesterday after he already stumbled and looked dumb in front of the boy.

“Anyways, here’s a good place to start: who is this ‘Big Sis’ you referred to earlier? Is she actually your sister? Or is that a code name for a leader figure?”

“Alright, first off, I can’t say. Made a promise that’d be a secret if I were to get caught. And second, one question at a time, jesus fuck.”

“Ok then, I respect that. Now tell me this: why did you try to kill us with your sniper rifle?”

“Can’t say. Big Sis told me to stay quiet on that front.”

“Oh my god, can you answer ANY question I ask??”  
“Does that count as one? Cause it really depends if I’m bein’ honest with ya.”

“Hah hah, very funny. Well do you at least know who we are?”

“Unless y’alls names are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb, nah. Don’t know, and I don’t give a shit. Not important.”

“Interesting. Now did this ‘Big Sis’ tell you to not come back to her empty-handed?”

“Woah shit, making them big boy questions. Who knew this white boy could jump to conclusions like that?”

Alan does nothing but give him a stone-faced, unamused look.

“Alright, alright, chill. Nah. She said she don’t care what I do with myself. She trusts me.”

“Ok, well do you care about her?”

Jake lifts his head and looks at Alan, still shaking a bit, but is suddenly curious as to what he’s trying to get at.

“The hell kinda question is that?”

“Just answer the damn question.”  
“Ugh, fine. Yeah, I do. Dunno why that’s important, but there.”

“Would you do anything for her?”

“Ok motherfucker, what’re you tryna do?”  
“Answer. The question.”

“... yes, I would.”

“Good. Now tell me this: why do you think we do what we’re doing now? Why do you think we fought for our lives when you started firing instead of just accepting our fate and just fucking dying, huh? Answer me that if we’re so fucking easy to read.”

“Man, I TOLD you I don’t CARE about you or who or what you are, don’t GIVE me these BULLSHIT FUCKING QUESTIONS!”

Jake tries to butt-in, “Al, please-” but nothing else comes out before Alan continues.

“Fine I’ll tell you. It’s because we have people that WE care about waiting for us. They’re counting on us, and put all of our trust in us. Now I don’t know your relationship with ‘Big Sis’, but you don’t know OUR relationships either.”

Alan pauses before he continues.

“Now here’s an easier question for you to answer: do you want to see her again? Even if you failed your ‘mission’ or whatever you’re doing here, would you want that?”

Jake still doesn’t know what to do with himself in this situation, and the hostage is starting to put his head down and loses eye-contact with Alan.

“... yeah… I’d like that…”

“Alright. Now since you’re all tied up and can’t do shit without our help at the moment, would you like to make a proposition?”

The boy hesitates, but nods.

“How about you show us where she is so we can take you back to her, and so we can ask her some questions in person?”

He perks back up again with a flare sparking in his eyes.

“Hey, don’t even THINK about seeing Big Sis! How do I know I can trust you motherfuckers!? I don’t know you guys! You could hurt her or do something that would make her upset, and I couldn’t forgive myself if that happened!”  
He starts to tear up a bit despite his best efforts. Age may be just a number, but nobody is too young or old to feel things, no matter how much they burn.

“I just don’t… I… I-”

Jake finally steps up to the plate and takes a knee in front of the hostage. The boy turns his head to face Jake who’s getting a bit puffy-eyed himself.

“Listen. You can trust us. I know my bro is a bit hot-headed sometimes, but he really is a compassionate guy to the core, I hope you know that.”

Alan shows a defensive look for a split second before immediately switching back to how he was prior. Jake continues:

“I also know you probably won’t take my word for it, so take a good look at my face and tell me I’m lying. You’re good at reading people, so I want you to read me.”

The boy takes a good, long look at Jake just as instructed. He tries to wipe off his dangling tears from his eyes with his shoulders due to his constraints, but Jake uses his less than absorbent sleeve to help him out. The boy smirks for a second. He knows he’s being genuine. Jake says one more thing to him:

“Ok. Now it’s my turn to ask questions, but I’m just gonna do one, simple question: what’s your name?”

The boy hesitates as if he’s about to commit a sin in front of God himself, but he answers:

“My name… My name’s Jax… it’s Jax.”

**_> To Be Continued..._ **


	6. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang continues onward to their destination to see "Big Sis", but something among the group shows its ugly face: conflict. Everybody should've seen that coming though, have you even met these three? But what the hell is up with Alan?

After the huge back and forth interrogation full of power struggles and emotional manipulation, the Herima brothers now have a plus 1 in tow in Jax who is now freed but still put on strict watch. You can never be too careful in dark times like these. Well, more like post-dark times, but that conversation already took place earlier. No need to tread on old ground. 

The boys are now making their way to meet this ‘Big Sis’ Jax keeps talking about in hopes of finding some answers regarding the whereabouts of their parents, but it might be a bit harder than that based on what little they know about her nature. Now how come there is a need for a recap such as this when all this was established just in the last chapter? Well, nobody fell asleep, so there’s no dream sequence to transition with. Yes, I’ve started without one before, but that’s another plate of cookies for a different glass of milk. Let’s just check up on the boys before the quality of this piece of literature goes completely downhill.

Right now the 3 boys are currently just slowly but surely making their way out of Sniper Wood (Jake came up with the name) and heading towards what they assume to be Big Sis’ location. They assume because Jax is currently taking the lead while Alan and Jake make a triangle formation behind him. 

Jake’s stride is loose yet not wild as usual, but Alan on the other hand is tense as all hell. He tries to be at least, the patched up gash in his leg still remains to take a toll on him. The makeshift crutch Jake made is helping somewhat, but something not of standard medical quality can only help so much, so he still stumbles a bit and silently writhes in pain whenever he steps wrong, but he insists that he’s fine. Except for when Jax decides to call him out for being too slow and making everybody slow down or flat-out stop sometimes. Just because he was mentally dissected doesn’t mean it changed his personality. 

“Dammit, I still can’t believe one of us got injured not even a week after we left home.” said Alan.

“Yeah, it kinda sucks, but you’re not dead, are ya broski?”

“I suppose not, but we could be making a lot more progress if it weren’t for these damn bullet wounds. You really did put a number on me, Jax.”

“What can I say, I’m a good shot. Plus with your build, it ain’t hard to hit ya, ya know that?” replied Jax.

Alan gets fired up for a second but doesn’t externally show it. He knows there’s no use in it. Just gotta ignore the kid.

“Anyways,” Alan drags out to change the subject, “how the hell did you become such a good shot anyways? Are you self-taught, or did ‘Big Sis’ teach you everything you know?”

“Eh, I guess tellin’ ya won’t hurt anythin’. I just picked out that sniper a while back, and just kinda stuck with it.”

“Picked it out? So you had a huge arsenal to pick out from? What kinda insane weaponry does Big Sis have at her disposal for you to just ‘pick out’ a sniper!?”

“Yo, calm down man. Don’t fuckin’ freak out and read too much into it. All you need to know right now is that I picked it out because it looked cool. And all I’m gonna say is that it was tough as shit to get used to. But I had some help, that’s all you’ll get outta me.”

Jake pipes in on the conversation and exclaims, “Do you have a connection to your weapon?”

Jax just stops and looks at Jake with an elevated brow. So does Alan, but slightly less apparent or exaggerated.

“Man, what the fuck is that supposed to mean? A connection to a fuckin’ gun?? Out of all the dumb shit I’ve heard you say, that’s gotta be the dumbest.”

“No, no, listen! It’s a real question! Like, you know my bat, right?”

Jaz rubs his head.

“You mean the same bat that got me this big ass bump and knocked me out cold for I don’t know how long? Yeah, I know it. The fuck are you gettin’ at?”

“Well, her name is Casey.”

Alan gives Jake a look that says ‘Don’t you fucking dare go there with someone who’s basically a stranger, I swear to god, Jacob.’.

Jake pretends not to notice and continues anyway.

“I’ve had her for as long as I can remember. It was a gift from our dad, and I named her after one of my favorite baseball players on our home team. She wasn’t in the major leagues or anything, but she managed to get in with a men’s only league. The first and only time it’s ever happened in our history! Even at 6 years old I knew she was special to get in with the likes of those guys, so I wanted my own baseball bat to be special.”

Alan is now sitting down just being completely flabbergasted that Jake would just tell all of that to him. The worst part is that he knows Jake isn’t done yet; he never knows when to stop. So he just plants his head to the palms of his hands and lets him continue.

“Uhhh, alright man.” Jax responds. “Still don’t know where you’re going with this, but go off.”

“Well I guess what I’m saying is that I wanna know if you have ties to your family with your weapon of choice. Was your dad in the war so you chose it to honor him? Is it Big Sis’ favorite? What is it?”

“Woah woah woah, okay mister comedic relief, what the mother of fuck are you going off about? That’s a damn big jump for not having a whole lotta ground. Goddamn, break down once in front of some white clowns and they think they know ya like the back of their ass crack. I don’t have no shitty connections to my damn gun, crackhead. It’s a fucking gun, and I shoot good with it. That’s all.”

“Oh, well I just thought-”

Jax interrupts. This boy ain’t done with him yet.

“Listen man, ain’t NOBODY have the same experiences as you. Don’t you come at me with these dumbass projections thinking we’ll be friends because we found out we have one little thing in common. How fucking old are you again? Definitely older than me, I know that much.”

Jake naturally tries to look down and hide his face once again. It happens on pure instinct and doesn’t realize he’s doing it until-

“AND THAT! THAT FUCKING PATHETIC LOOK! You did it when we were talking with me tied up. All you’re doing is running away to your own space like a damn kid. You need to take notes from ya bro and grow. The fuck. Up.”

Alan immediately rises to his feet not even noticing the sudden pain rush through his body after the sudden pressure he applied to his wounds. He looks down at Jax and starts to go the fuck off on him.

“ALRIGHT THAT’S FUCKING IT!! I’VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR DAMN PREACHY ATTITUDE!! I DON’T CARE HOW CHILDISH YOU THINK JAKE IS, YOU’RE A FUCKING CHILD TOO, SO DON’T ACT LIKE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, YOU FUCKING PARASITE!!.

The group stands in silence. Alan remains looking pissed at Jax with a huge snarl on his face, Jake looks up with a familiar defeatist expression, and Jax remains neutral. Alan decides to break the silence like the grown up he needs to be.

“Listen. If all we’re going to do is argue and bitch about how much we despise each other instead of actually travelling and making progress, then I say we go the rest of the way in silence so we don’t slow each other down.”

He’s replied to with crickets as requested.

“Good. Jax, you want to see Big Sis. Jake and I want to find our parents. We all have our goals right now, and we can mutually benefit off of each other. Let’s just get our shit together, and fucking move. Now let’s go. We can talk later once we actually accomplish something.”

And so they do just that: They force themselves to move forward with the past behind them. However, even if something is stuck to your back, it still constitutes as being behind you, right? They should be fine. That’s what Alan wants to think anyways. Oh well, no need to dwell. In times like these, emotional subjects should be left aside and dealt with after it’s all said and done.

“It will only ever get in the way.”

**> ** **_To Be Continued..._ **


End file.
